Any news on the stereo lately?
 

It's been a while since crusing the forums and from what I can remember Mazda is planning on putting a Bose system in the car. My question is ... do we still have any idea about the stereo and the design layout of the system?

The reason I'm asking is because I took a look at the new Accord Coupe and saw how retarded the people over in Honda decided to make the layout. Just to add a receiver a person would have to rip out the entire front dash and make a custom dash to fit the system. This worries me in the RX-8 and will be a major turn off if I cannot upgrade the way I want to.

Re: Any news on the stereo lately?
 

Nothing written in stone yet, Strider.

All I know is that it will be Bose (Mazda said so at SevenStock).

Which could be a good thing if it's like the Bose in Audis, or a bad thing if it's like the Bose in previous Mazdas.

There's no telling anything until we get a count on how many speakers and what size.

That reminds me of something that happened last weekend, if I may venture slightly off topic for a moment. Friend and I were at Best Buy, checking out computer speakers. He saw a small set of Bose speakers and tried them out, and told me how awesome they sounded. I listened and they sounded horrible! No clarity or balance. So I turned on the Klipsch speakers nearby - sweet music to my ears, but my buddy swore the Bose were better. Bah. :) I guess Bose has built up their name so much, some people will believe they're the best no matter what they hear.

So getting back on topic, here's hoping the RX-8 stereo is one of Bose's finer efforts. :)

Edit - I kan spel reel gud.

Not on topic, but I'll say this - Klipsch speakers have always sounded too treble-y for my tastes. They have an incredibly clear sound, but just not my style. Bose... I'll competely agree that they're over-rated and over-hyped, particularly in home applications. I don't know enough about car stereos to say... Now if Phase Tech (who makes the mains I use on my home stereo) made car speakers....

:)

-Patrick

Yes, the horn tweeters on the klipsch's are very pronounced in the treble range, though I still find that better than the loose bass and truncated highs on the cheap to midrange bose systems.

My dad's MB S320 has a very tight sounding bose system (read: classical music tuned), so bose can do good work, but I suppose only if you pay them enough.

Well, my understanding is that the stuff Bose hypes in the low-end home market are those tiny tin-can speakers which they try to market as almost full-range speakers, and that souped-up clock radio. I'm not home stereo expert, but I remember listening to those and Infinity speakers and such at Circuit City when I was shopping for speakers, and was really underwhelmed. They just didn't compare at all things like the Phase Tech, BMW, or NHT speakers I listened to. OTOH, my Dad had some old Bose speakers in his stereo that sounded quite nice.

Perhaps if we're going to talk home stereo, though, we should move to the lounge. To get back on tiopic, I could see that Bose would make decent mid-to-high end parts for autos like the Audis, but that their systems for more bargin-oriented car apps might be mediocre. Still, I just don't get into car audio much. The speakers I'm interested in comes in chrome pairs sticking out under the back of the car, and the head-ends for those speakers are under the hood and on my shoulders. :)

Thanks for the update ( kinda =/ ).
While we are off topic I'm looking to upgrade my car stereo, anybody have any brands or model of head units they would recommend? My budget for the time is around 500ish for the head unit and 250ish for the speakers (and I'm not looking for the ghetto trunk rattle in my car... just louder and more clear w/ a "little" more bass). Also if you have anything I should look into for speakers that would be great also.

Strider-

btw, Bose has been overhyped for several years now, I don't really see what people like in them. They are good on the treble side, but other than that it's a total no-go on my part. My .02 though.

You're better off using the stock head unit (keeping volume controls on steerin wheel), and getting an amp to power the speakers. A clean amp I'd buy is like a Rockford Fosgate.. and I'd probably go with Infinity Kappa speakers for the inside, with a 10" Infiniti Perfect or JL Audio subwoofer.

They hit very accurately, and aren't as costly as the others.

The priority: amp is the first thing to upgrade, then speakers, then the head unit as you need it. :cool:

That's assuming the head unit has RCA outputs with high voltage, low resistance. If not, the head unit will be the first thing to go.